Wednesday, March 05, 2008

With the Bytown budget and (alleged) bribery brouhaha you may have forgotten that there are four by-elections March 17th. It seems Deborah Meredith may have forgotten too, as the Conservative candidate in Vancouver-Quadra seems to have been skipping a lot of all-candidates meeting lately.

Last month, The Georgia Straight's Carlito Pablo reported Vancouver-Quadra federal Conservative by-election candidate Deborah Meredith "decided not to participate" in a debate being organized by Engineers Without Borders Canada. And now Public Eye has learned she's skipping another chance to face off against her opponents. In an interview, Friends of Canadian Broadcasting spokesperson Jim Thompson said he's been told Ms. Meredith won't be showing up for their all-candidate debate because it's a "busy time."

In an interview with Public Eye, Voters Taking Action of Climate Change director Kevin Washbrook confirmed Ms. Meredith won't be showing up for their global warming town hall meeting - scheduled to take place this Thursday at the Saint James Community Square.

I know this is a busy time and all, but that's at least three skiped all-candidates meetings, that we know of. Deborah Meredith works at UBC, so it's not like she'd have had far to go. And as for the global warming one, you don't need much prep time when every answer is going to be “it's a myth.” So surely she could find some time in her busy schedule.

I wonder if the decision to skip all these all-candidates meetings, like the decision to boycott the national media, was also made by “people above” her? We could ask Deborah Meredith ...if she ever shows up at an all-candidates meeting.

Any event sponsored by the Straight (veerhardleft.ca?)is usually suspect due to the small cabal of fanatic activists that they duly report on. The Quadra candidates meeting starring the great gal from Corner Gas hardly provides balance in the one-sided scream for hands-off, full on gov't funding with no strings attached to maintain a broadcasting monopoly embargo. All-party swooning is not helpful when the current world mantra is typically invoked...the debate is over!